The Nine Techo Trends Impacting Travel

Tick-tech, tick-tech…it seems the clock is ticking for those in the travel industry yet to adopt policies to harness the power of social media and mobile technology.

Web in Travel (WIT), the marketing, technology, social media and distribution summit in Singapore attracted close to 400 delegates at ITB Asia.

The focus at WIT 2010 was customer behaviour.

WIT concluded that technological innovation was colliding with social and economic dynamics.

The result is likely to put the travel industry on the cusp of profound change. Travel suppliers have to change mindsets to adapt to the new landscape.

Web in Travel founder and organiser, Yeoh Siew Hoon, said there were nine key messages arising from Web in Travel 2010:

1. Content has become even more important with the fragmentation of channels. And it’s a new form of content: rawer, edgier, user-generated and more audio-visual based than text.

2. Creativity has to be applied to all sectors of the industry, from marketing to customer service. Expectations have been raised through social media – customers know before they arrive.

3. Smart phones have changed everything.

They allow delivery of contextual, personal and timely information. They enable augmented reality to change user experience of destinations.

They allow customers to book at the last minute (within 24 hours and even after arrival). Some suppliers are banking on mobile commerce (m-commerce). AirAsia expects 20% of its bookings to come from mobile in the next 18 months.

4. Low cost carriers have created a new kind of traveller – younger, older, independent, web-savvy, looking for new experience. AirAsia will be the biggest airline in the region in terms of seats by 2015.

5. In the age of the web and Internet, it’s about fast versus slow, not big versus small.

6. In Japan 20% of domestic flights are booked on mobile devices and 20% of search on the biggest travel meta-search site, travel.jp, is through mobile.

Conversely, the new challenge is getting young Japanese to travel. Some 30% said they have not travelled in last 12 months. They prefer video gaming.

7. China is the market that will change everything in Asia, not just in scale but in niche segments. For example, 90% of Chinese honeymoons take place within China. It is a major opportunity for destinations.

8. Social media has arrived and is proving it can drive more than brand awareness. It can generate direct revenues if correctly used.

9. Online has gone mainstream. Don’t think online versus offline, think travel.